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2 comments about The Real Woodrow Wilson: An Interview With Arthur S. Link, Editor of the Wilson Papers.

1. No one knows Woodrow Wilson as the late Athur Link knew him. Link, a Princeton historian, was chosen to edit The Papers of Woodrow Wilson, perhaps the largest collection of presidential documents and references ever assembled. From 1963-93 he and a team of researchers cataloged the collection. Toward the end of the project, Professor Link had an extended conversation with journalist James Robert Carroll who recorded, edited and presented the result in this fascinating short volume.

   Link shares many insights with Carroll. We learn that Wilson typed many of his own letters; that most of his speeches were not written in advance, so that staff members had to scrambled to recreate copies afterward. Wilson taught himself shorthand, facilitating note taking. Link believes Wilson sustained small strokes very early in the century and that his obstinacy over accepting modifications to the World War I peace treaty stemmed not from ideological animosity toward Senator Henry Cabot Lodge and others, but rather from typical after match symptoms from his major stroke of October 2, 1919. He contends also that Edith Wilson did not make policy decisions for her ailing husband. Rather, she regulated who could see him and for how long, in an effort to provide him maximum rest and a calm atmosphere.

   This book is not only interesting, but also useful for students of the presidency and for learning about the work techniques of a famous historian.




2. A fascinating behind-the-scenes view of Woodrow Wilson's life and afterlife, via a freeflowing conversation with Arthur Link, the late great Wilson biographer and editor of the amazing Wilson Papers. Link knew more about Wilson's life than anyone - perhaps more even than Wilson himself - and here he tells engaging and revealing stories about Wilson's rise from scholar and college president to New Jersey governor and president of the United States, culminating in his heroic fight for the League of Nations in 1919. We get rare glimpses of Wilson's childhood, loves, marriages, his intellectual life, and the impact of illness - including a series of strokes - on his presidency well before his dramatic collapse at the height of the League campaign. Link also describes his own leading role in one of the greatest editorial feats of all time - the nearly 70 volumes of the Wilson papers - documents written by, for, and about Wilson - which give us as complete and rounded a picture as we have of the life of any president - indeed of any human being. From their modest origins in the late 50s, when Link had little inkling of the scope of the task he'd rather casually undertaken, to their waxing with the publication of two massive, brilliantly annotated volumes a year, to the end in the early 90s, with the image of Link at his desk editing the last volumes almost singlehandedly (and by hand! - no computers), Link tells us in entertaining style how it was done, both the careful planning and the serendipity - including the thrilling discovery of a lost trove of papers from Wilson's childhood and early career in a forgotten upstairs closet of his Washington house. Tedium at times there was, Link acknowledges, but his unflagging enthusiasm and devotion shine through this conversation, as does his admiration, tempered by real discernment and almost infinite knowledge, of Wilson's character, achievements, and legacy. Highly recommended for anyone with an interest in history and in how it's made - how leaders live it and how scholars write it.

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